Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s stark production of “Hamlet” is dark, moody and fascinating.
Shakespeare‘s epic tragedy, which is marked by outstanding performances and confident direction, continues through Aug. 3 on the Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, in Center Valley.
Set in Denmark, the tumultuous play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother, Gertrude.
The production is marked by an industrial set with unadorned angular set pieces backed by a fluorescent light bar, that is jarringly juxtaposed with crystal chandeliers that raise and lower. There is little visual difference between scenes from Elsinore castle to the graveyard, creating a nightmare-like quality.
Set and lighting designer Brian Sidney Bembridge’s lighting creates harsh shadows for dramatic effect that punctuate scenes.
Biko Eisen-Martin’s Hamlet is smart, inciteful and passionate. He delivers on the character’s many soliloquies revealing Hamlet’s depth of grief, his costly indecision and ultimate resolve. He quickly goes from gentle humor, remembering the former court jester, to inconsolable anguish when he realizes Ophelia has died.
As Claudius, Akeen Davis has a jolliness and smug self-assuredness that masks the depths of his deviousness.
Grace Gonglewski conveys Gertrude’s frustration and conflict between worrying about her son and being supportive of her new husband.
Pepin’s Ophelia is intriguing, showing a cheeky fortitude in the role of discarded lover and is memorable in her madness scene.
Eric Hissom adds welcome comic relief as Polonius and in a gender-switched role, Taysha Marie Canales is stalwart as Hamlet’s confidante Horatio.
Also adding some humor are Sean Close and Maboud Ebrahimzadeh as the frequently misidentified Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
costumes utilitarian with straps and Ophelia elegant dress with chunky boots, parachute pants the players were costumes that draw from Elizabethan fashion with neck ruffs and trunk hose
Damien J. Wallace gives vengeful nobleness to the ghost of King Hamlet and nearly steals the graveyard scene as a wisecracking gravedigger tossing skulls around.
Director Lindsay Stirling has wisely trimmed some of the scenes, although the show still runs nearly three hours with an intermission. However so diverting is the action on stage, that the time passes quickly.
Also affecting is Stirling’s decision to have the traveling group of actors who are performing the play “The Murder of Gonzago” echo Ian Merrill Peakes’ leading player’s words for a truly creepy effect.
Nancy Leary’s costumes pull from a lot of sources creating a chaotic feel. Hamlet’s outfits are boldly utilitarian with straps at times, while at other times he’s in parachute pants. Ophelia’s lovely and elegant dress is set off with chunky boots. In contrast, the traveling actors’ costumes draw elements from Elizabethan fashion with neck ruffs and trunk hose.
Of note is the authentic looking fencing match between Hamlet and David Pica’s solumn Laertes, thanks to fighting director Ian Rose.
The play is recommended to ages 13 and older for staged violence and mature themes.
Meet the actors after the show for a talk-back July 31.
The July 26 performance will feature open captioning for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing and audio descriptions for patrons who are blind or visually impaired.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. July 11, 16, 25. 30, 31, and Aug. 2; 6:30 p.m. July 15 and 22; and 2 p.m. July 20. 23, 26 and Aug. 3.
Tickets are $47-$67 for adults, $42-$62 for seniors and $41-$61 for students.
For information, call 610-282-9455, or go to pashakespeare.org/.